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Article

16 Nov 2017

Author:
Alasdair Wilkins, Inverse Innovation

Apple and google just aced a major ethics test in Africa, says new report

Apple and Google have topped newly released rankings for their work ensuring the minerals used in their products don’t come from war zones...[in]...the Enough Project’s 2017 report...

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has faced decades of civil war, with much of the fighting centered in the country’s resource-rich eastern regions. Warlords use profits from mining operations to help fund their activities. The four most common of these conflict minerals are tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold, often abbreviated as 3TG.

All four of those minerals are used in consumer electronics…

The report also calls on all companies to publicly report their due diligence work with conflict minerals, to monitor mines continuously to ensure they remain conflict-free instead of checking annually, and to join agreements that hold them accountable for any conflict minerals discovered in their supply chain.

That last step is especially important…because…Republicans have repeatedly sought to repeal the U.S. conflict resources law, while the Congolese government faces long-term political crises and instability that undermine its ability to contend with local warlords. As such, companies’ own, frequently self-directed efforts are the best option to keep the supply chain conflict-free…

Generally speaking, the 10 consumer electronics companies scored better than jewelry companies…All of these rankings apply exclusively to the Congo…

[Also refers to HP, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, and Toshiba]